AVMA member
AVMA honor roll member
Nonmember
Robert R. Billiar
Dr. Billiar (Iowa State ’58), 90, South Sioux City, Nebraska, died Sept. 29, 2022. He owned South Sioux City Animal Hospital until he was 83 and then worked part time at Elk Creek Animal Hospital in Sioux City, Iowa, for another four years. Dr. Billiar was a member of the Nebraska and Interstate VMAs. He served on the board of directors of the Siouxland Humane Society and was a past president of the Sioux Valley Kennel Club.
Dr. Billiar is survived by his wife, Shirley; two sons and a daughter; seven grandchildren; and a sister. His daughter, Dr. Suzanne Billiar (Iowa State ’84), is also a veterinarian. Memorials may be made to Hope Lutheran Church, 218 W. 18th St., South Sioux City, NE 68776; Siouxland Humane Society, 1015 Tri View Ave., Sioux City, IA 51103; or the Nebraska VMA Centennial Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 296, Alliance, NE 69301.
Jack H. Crawford
Dr. Crawford (Texas A&M ’66), 79, Fort Worth, Texas, died Sept. 22, 2022. Following graduation, he worked a year for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dr. Crawford subsequently served as a captain in the Army Veterinary Corps for two years, during which time he was stationed in Vietnam, providing care for military dogs and farm animals in the area. He received several honors, including the Campaign, Good Conduct, and National Defense Service medals.
Following his military service, Dr. Crawford joined Irving Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Irving, Texas. He went on to serve as a partner in the practice, taking over ownership in the 1990s. Dr. Crawford retired in 2012. He served on the board of directors of the Airport Freeway Animal Emergency Hospital in Euless, Texas, and the Dallas County VMA, and he was a member of the American Animal Hospital Association and Texas VMA.
Dr. Crawford’s wife, Linda; a daughter and a son; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild survive him. Memorials may be made to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741.
Ann Garvey
Dr. Garvey (Iowa State ’02), 46, Norwalk, Iowa, died Nov. 1, 2022. She was the state public health veterinarian and deputy state epidemiologist with the Iowa Department of Public Health.
Following graduation, Dr. Garvey worked briefly for Land O’Lakes Corp. and served as an adjunct instructor at Iowa State University’s Center for Food Security and Public Health. She subsequently earned a master’s in public health from the University of Iowa and joined the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management as an agriculture specialist and state exercise training officer. Dr. Garvey served in this capacity for four years before being named state public health veterinarian. During her tenure with the Iowa Department of Public Health, she also served as bureau chief of the Center for Acute Disease Epidemiology.
Dr. Garvey was a past president of the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians. In 2017, she received the University of Iowa College of Public Health’s Outstanding Alumni Award. Dr. Garvey is survived by her husband, Brandon; two daughters; her mother; and a sister. Memorials may be made to St. John the Apostle Catholic Church, 720 Orchard Hills Drive, Norwalk, IA 50211.
India H. Imperatore
Dr. Imperatore (Pennsylvania ’90), 66, New London, Pennsylvania, died Sept. 6, 2022. A large animal practitioner, she focused on equine medicine and owned practices at Delaware Park racetrack in Wilmington, Delaware, and Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland. In later years, Dr. Imperatore took care of show ponies and pets of family and friends. During her career, she also incorporated alternative medicine into her work.
Dr. Imperatore volunteered with Project Cure, an organization based in West Grove, Pennsylvania, that distributes medical supplies worldwide, and was active with the Billion Oyster Project in New York City, which works to restore oysters in New York Harbor. She is survived by two daughters and two brothers. Memorials may be made to the Billion Oyster Project, 10 S. St., Slip 7, New York, NY 10004, or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Richard D. Jamison
Dr. Jamison (Kansas State ’73), 77, Sidney, Iowa, died May 1, 2022. Following graduation, he practiced for two years in Steele, North Dakota. Dr. Jamison then joined Fremont County Veterinary Clinic in Sidney, retiring in 2011. He is survived by his wife, Teresa; three children; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Jimmy B. Jones
Dr. Jones (Illinois ’63), 88, Baytown, Texas, died Sept. 30, 2022. During his career, he worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service; owned a practice in Dyersburg, Tennessee; and taught and conducted research at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Jones retired in 1991 from the University of Georgia as assistant vice president of research. His research included establishing a colony of dogs that carried the gene for cyclic neutropenia, helping in the development of a drug used to stimulate neutrophil production in humans with cancer. Dr. Jones was also part of a team studying spaceflight anemia, using rats aboard a space shuttle orbiting the Earth.
In retirement, he served for two years as a veterinarian on the Cook Islands via the Peace Corps. In 1985, Dr. Jones was honored by the University of Tennessee’s Gamma Sigma Delta honor society for excellence in research. In 2012, he was a recipient of the University of Illinois’ Dr. Erwin Small Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Jones’ wife, Joy; a son and a daughter; eight grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and a sister survive him. Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Peter Louis Malnati Jr.
Dr. Malnati (Cornell ’51), 93, Port Tobacco, Maryland, died Sept. 26, 2022. Following graduation, he established a practice in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Dr. Malnati subsequently worked at the Tail Waggers clinic in Washington, D.C. In 1958, he established Coolridge Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Camp Springs, Maryland. Dr. Malnati later founded practices in Maryland at Waldorf and White Plains. He also worked at other practices into his late 80s. Dr. Malnati was a founding member of a local veterinary group in Maryland.
His wife, Gail; two sons; four grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and a brother survive him. Memorials may be made to the Morris Animal Foundation, 720 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 174A, Denver, CO 80246.
David E. McClun
Dr. McClun (Kansas ’59), 91, Walnut Creek, California, died Sept. 9, 2022. He practiced small animal medicine at El Cerrito Pet Hospital in El Cerrito, California, for almost 50 years. Dr. McClun was active with the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the El Cerrito Rotary Club. He served in the Navy during the Korean War. Dr. McClun is survived by his wife, Diana; two sons and two daughters; 11 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a sister. Memorials may be made to Berkeley Humane, 2700 Ninth St., Berkeley, CA 94710.
George E. Ritter
Dr. Ritter (Ohio State ’46), 97, Council Bluffs, Iowa, died Sept. 18, 2022. Following graduation, he joined the Army Veterinary Corps. During his military service, Dr. Ritter served as the Army’s chief veterinary officer for a few years. He attained the rank of colonel. After retiring from the corps, Dr. Ritter served as a professional service representative for Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Southern California and Las Vegas for 14 years. He is survived by his wife, Judy, and two stepdaughters.
Franklin J. Stein
Dr. Stein (Texas A&M ’65), 79, Snook, Texas, died Oct. 3, 2022. He was a professor of anatomy at Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, where he subsequently became director of the Veterinary Medical Park. Dr. Stein retired in 2009. He later taught in the veterinary technology program at Blinn College in Bryan, Texas.
Dr. Stein showed mules, donkeys, and Pinzgauer cattle in Texas. He served as a captain in the Air Force, retiring in 1991 from the Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. Dr. Stein is survived by his wife, Dr. Marsha L. Stein (Texas A&M ’85); a son and a daughter; three grandchildren; and a sister. A niece, Dr. Lynn H. Green-Ivey (Texas A&M ’11), is also a veterinarian. Memorials may be made to Still Creek Ranch, an organization that rescues children from risky environments, and mailed to 6055 Hearne Road, Bryan, TX 77808.
James E. Young
Dr. Young (Washington State ’79), 73, Hobart, Washington, died Sept. 6, 2022. Following graduation, he joined Bayview Veterinary Hospital in Bremerton, Washington. In 1983, Dr. Young took ownership of the practice. He also worked with local police departments, training officers to administer emergency medical aid to their K-9 partners. Dr. Young is survived by his wife, Janet; a daughter and a son; three grandchildren; and two sisters.
Please report the death of a veterinarian promptly to the AVMA News staff via a toll-free phone call at 800-248-2862, ext. 6754; email at news
avma [dot] org; or fax at 847-925-9329. For an obituary to be published, AVMA News must be notified within six months of the date of death.